English

ESR study of atomic hydrogen and tritium in solid T$_{2}$ and T$_{2}$:H$_{2}$ matrices below 1K

Other Condensed Matter 2017-04-05 v1 Atomic Physics

Abstract

We report on the first ESR study of atomic hydrogen and tritium stabilized in a solid T2_{2} and T2_{2}:H2_{2} matrices down to 70\,mK. The concentrations of T atoms in pure T2_{2} approached 2×10202\times10^{20}cm3^{-3} and record-high concentrations of H atoms 1×1020\sim1\times10^{20}cm3^{-3} were reached in T2_{2}:H2_{2} solid mixtures where a fraction of T atoms became converted into H due to the isotopic exchange reaction T+H2_2\rightarrowTH+H. The maximum concentrations of unpaired T and H atoms was limited by their recombination which becomes enforced by efficient atomic diffusion due to a presence of a large number of vacancies and phonons generated in the matrices by β\beta-particles. Recombination also appeared in an explosive manner both being stimulated and spontaneously in thick films where sample cooling was insufficient. We suggest that the main mechanism for H and T migration is physical diffusion related to tunneling or hopping to vacant sites in contrast to isotopic chemical reactions which govern diffusion of H and D atoms created in H2_{2} and D2_{2} matrices by other methods.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.06564,
  title  = {ESR study of atomic hydrogen and tritium in solid T$_{2}$ and T$_{2}$:H$_{2}$ matrices below 1K},
  author = {S. Sheludiakov and J. Ahokas and J. Järvinen and O. Vainio and L. Lehtonen and D. Zvezdov and S. Vasiliev and D. M. Lee and V. V. Khmelenko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.06564},
  year   = {2017}
}